Teaching Apologetically
I have written a fair amount over the years on the importance not only of teaching theology but also of teaching (and living) theologically in relation to youth ministry. I want to encourage youth pastors (and all pastors) always to have a mind toward the theological truth behind what they are teaching. How does one teach in a form that effectively respects and represents the important content they are communicating? It is this...
Being Constructive About Deconstruction
I have had plenty of reasons to walk away from the faith, or really to never have begun it. If you will excuse a personal account, I grew up in a household that did not put an emphasis on Christianity and the truth of Scripture. My family went to church from time to time, but whatever commitment to the faith we displayed by attending church on Sunday was often neglected that following Monday. So, when I heard the gospel and confessed...
Seeing Clearly: C. S. Lewis and Imagination
It may have begun with a toy garden in the lid of a cookie tin. C. S. Lewis’s brother Warnie had put moss, twigs, and flowers in the lid, and made a garden-forest for his younger sibling. Lewis said that it was the first beauty he had ever known. He stated, “As long as I live my imagination of Paradise will retain something of my brother’s toy garden.”[1] For Lewis the life of imagination and joy started early. Of course, people are...
Musings on Fatherhood and the Bible
One of my deepest longings in this life is to be a good father to my three boys. And yet I constantly feel like I fall woefully short. It is an unachievable goal, and yet daily it is within my reach. Each morning I wake up, and I have the opportunity to follow the Biblical commands laid before me and to exercise the wisdom of God as I interact with, lead, and guide my children. But I know I miss the mark. In the moments of losing my...
Francis Schaeffer’s Politics: An Exploration
For many evangelicals Francis Schaeffer is a household name as an apologist and a cultural observer and commentator. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Schaeffer became more involved in politics than he had been previously. Political activists in favor of the prolife cause utilized books like A Christian Manifesto and What Ever Happened to the Human Race? as political and cultural resources. Other books had strong political-public...
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